The Last Post of Summer 2014 :-(

 

It is extremely sad to me. I should live closer to the equator because I love Summer so much. I like Fall and Spring and I am no fan of Winter. Darla and I went to Folsom Live last night, a concert series in Folsom that consists of five stages and 15 bands all in one night. We also spent this afternoon with Charlie and Frieda at an End of Summer party at their house. It was extra nice because Rick and Jan joined us. Rick has pancreatic cancer and has been handling the chemo really well and seeing a lot of encouraging news, including the reduction of lesions. He is weakened by the chemo, but is able to put on a little weight between sessions. He came over about 2:30 and stayed until about 5 and was getting tired when he left.

 

The picture of the red sun above was Friday morning as I left the lab after having blood drawn. The fire up in Pollock Pines has grown in size and now threatens over 70,000 acres. The wind shifted Thursday night and blew some of the smoke our way and gave the sun a red glow.

 

 I sat and watched the Niners lose with all of my friends and tried to keep my mouth shut, but it was difficult. The San Francisco  49ers have continued the pattern they set in the Cowboy game of playing a really good first half and completely disappearing in the second half. It is a combination of bad play calling and I think Bad JuJu caused by their ignorant decision to continue playing a 300 pound man that beat his pregnant girlfriend. Their excuse is that they want to let due process run it's course. At 1-2 I'd think due process is in full display right now. Do the right thing, make him inactive on game days while his case is worked out and continue to pay him. Once the truth comes out, cut him and move on. Any man that puts his hands on a woman is scum in my book. The Niners, by the way, gave a two game suspension to one of their broadcasters that does the games for two days for inappropriate comments on the Ray Rice case. It's easy to suspend a 155 pound talking head than a 300 pound defensive end ( I guess).

 

Darla and I got tickets to the Folsom live event on Thursday. We write the insurance for the event and our agent gets 16 Sponsor Passes to the event. We had Sponsor parking, entrance to the Sponsor building and fajita buffet and 20 drink tickets. Darla and I showed up at 5:00 PM and had a great dinner, had a couple of drinks in the air conditioned lounge and then wandered out and saw the bands. Our favorite group that played was Garratt Wilkins and The Parrotheads, a band that is a tribute band to Jimmy Buffet. I guess "tribute band" is a synonym for" rip-off group". They put on a good show and do songs from Jimmy Buffet, The Greatful Dead, The Beach Boys and others. Most of their music is Jimmy Buffet and boat songs with steel drums and acoustic instruments. We had fun, but were out of there by 8 O'clock and back home to relax.

 

I played golf at an insurance event on Thursday. Two of the guys we were playing with aren't serious golfers and we were one over par by the second hole we played. We worked hard to get 5 birdies and no bogeys the rest of the way and shoot 68. I also played at the crack of dawn on Saturday. We were the third group off at 6:45 AM and I was very happy to get a chance to play with Boyd. We haven't seen each other much lately as he won't play later in the day because it is too hot for him. He's also been busy with family commitments and doesn't like playing weekends because its too crowded. We rode together and got caught up and he and Paul really pushed me on Saturday. I shot 38 on the front, but struggled a little on the back and finished with an 81. Boyd shot 77 and Paul shot 80. Kevin played with us again for the second week in a row and shot 83.

 

I will be in Vancouver next weekend so the blog will be late by a few days. I get back on Tuesday, but have one of the management trainees from our LA office in and I will join he and Pete for dinner that night. I will get my golf fix in on Friday as we leave Thursday afternoon for Bodega Bay and golf on the Bodega Harbour Golf Links along the ocean in Bodega Bay. We are staying at a little turn of the century (1900's) lodge in Valley Ford on Thursday night and will meet Neil and Lilly and Bob and Vicki there for dinner on Thursday night. It will be a quick turnaround for us as we will drive back Friday night and leave for Vancouver on Saturday morning.

 

Work continues to go well. We are setting new records as we go and are on track to finish the year at $27,500,000 in premium written. This compares to $13,000,000 that we wrote in 2010. The build out is back on track and I ran into our leasing agent at the grocery store Friday morning when I was picking up breakfast burritos for Matt and I. I asked him how we finally got past the impasse and he said that HE wrote a check for $3,000 and we finally got an agreement. My real estate department were adamant that we would not pay a penny for the build out and they stood strong.

 

Daniel and Becky are back from their honeymoon and have realized that they have nowhere to store all of the wedding gifts that they received, so will be bringing some of the items up to store in our attic. They had a great and relaxing time in Hawaii. I haven't had a chance to talk to them, but Darla has.

 

David has interviewed for a new position with a real estate investor in Sacramento. He purchases older buildings in Sacramento and develops them mostly as retail space on the first floor and apartments upstairs. He is looking for an executive assistant with a background in architecture to help him with acquisitions and the design of the new spaces. David's job would be mostly as the project manager at each of the jobsites.

 

Well, it is late and I need some time with my bride. Again, I will be late with the blog next week, but will return with pictures from our trips to Bodega Bay and Vancouver. I hope you are all doing great. Ciao.

 

 

Summer is Not Going Down without a Fight

 

It was 103 degrees both weekend days this weekend. Summer is hanging on like a dog with a bone. The pool water has cooled off due to the lower nighttime temperatures and we are beginning to see leaves falling from some of the trees. The sun is off of the pool by 5:00 o'clock and it is dark by 7 PM, all signs that Summer has reached its peak and is slowly giving way to Autumn.

 

A few pictures this week, one of my favorite granddaughter in the car with her Mom and one of her Mom's best friends, Beth. Sam has her hat that reads "Not All Who Wander are Lost." The second is of Scott and John at Poker Night at my house after Steve passed gas after eating potato salad for dinner. The others are all of Sammy Hagar. His namesake restaurant is reopening and will be run by his son, Aaron and his wife. Sammy will be up here a lot making sure the restaurant is a success. I'm guessing he is the financial backer for his son in this endeavor. The original owner of Sammy's had some financial issues and committed suicide last November and the restaurant closed right away.

 

Sammy helped his son by agreeing to do an outside concert as a benefit for the reopening of the restaurant. We received two tickets to the free outdoor concert by purchasing a $75 gift card to the new restaurant. there were 750 cards offered and they sold out in 45 minutes. The math is $56,250 to the restaurant before they even opened the doors. The restaurant officially reopen tomorrow. Gee, thanks Dad for the help with the opening.

 

I did host poker on Friday night and we had seven players. I couldn't catch a cold early in the night and did not win a pot, losing about $45 when I finally stopped to grill the Italian Sausages. I cooked the Brauts and Darla fixed potato salad. The break was good for me as I came back to the game after dinner and won three of the next four pots and ended the night with over $100 worth of quarters and up overall about $60.

 

The Roseville Golf Club is playing their Invitational today which is a two man scramble. I really don't like to play scramble golf because there is not a score to post at the end of the round. I offered to pay for Matt in my office to play and he was busy, so I decided to play a round at Cherry Island with Paul Gonzalez. We met out there at 10"00 o'clock and were paired with another guy from our club, Kevin who happened to be on the singles list. We also played with an older guy named Jack who is a member out at Cherry. I took a look at his score card on the second hole and he had written down "Paul, Kevin and Ken (Tall Guy)" on his card. Wow, 'Tall Guy", not a descriptive phrase that you'll hear to describe me very often. Kevin is an Asian guy and about 5'5" and Paul is about 5'8". I should definitely play with these guys a little more often. I shot 44 on the front side (it is a par 37) and a 39 on the back for 83. Paul shot 79, Kevin had 85 and Jack shot over a 100.

 

We had tickets to the Sammy Hagar concert for Saturday night and my concern was parking and traffic. I got off the course and home by about 3:30 and hit the pool for an hour after cleaning it and doing the chemicals. The concert was 7 PM, but we had to exchange our vouchers for the gift card and arm bands for the concert. I got a shower and we were parked on this side of the tunnel and through the pedestrian tunnel and at the restaurant in Old Town Roseville by 5:30 PM. Steve and Brenda decided to get in line and get their bands and gift card before dinner and met us about 5:45 at Nella's Mexican Restaurant. It was crowded downtown and we finished dinner about 6:30 and walked over to the venue. They only sold 1500 tickets and there were about 2,000 people downtown. Many of them set up on the three story parking garage downtown and hung out to watch and listen to the concert for free. I included a picture of a couple of Roseville's finest from Fire Station Company 1 downtown out on their roof watching the concert. The show was a little brief with about 45 minutes for the opening act, "Day on the Green" and an hour set by Sammy Hagar and his band mates from Montrose, Bill Church and Denny Carmassi. It was pretty hot early on as we were on concrete watching the concert. The drinks were not well set up as they had two spots where you could get beer, two waters or rum drinks for $5 each. I stood in line for 45 minutes to get a beer and 2 waters. There were people cutting in line and jostling. With the age of the attendees, I was more concerned with someone breaking a hip than any fisticuffs. Sammy Hagar is 64 and Bill Church must be 70. Denny Carmassi is at least 67. At any rate, I waited in line all of that time and when I got to the front, they said they were OUT of water. I said, "What about that case on the ground?'. They said, "oh, that's for the workers!." WTH?

 

We had a great time and saw a lot of our friends while we were out there. I ran into two of my agents and we visited for awhile. Sammy had mentioned that he was relaxing at the restaurant (which was closed) and was going to walk to the venue. He instead got a police escort  and he joked that it was the first time he'd ever been in the FRONT seat of a police car. You can see the picture above with the two police officers that drove him over.

 

The dispute on the build out at work is over and the construction will resume tomorrow. We should be in the new space in about six weeks, which will coincide with the Leadership Meeting in Detroit. I have a 65 inch television, six computers and monitors, a microwave oven and a variety of computer cords, servers and switches sitting waiting for this all to come together. I also have two new employees sitting in our conference room as they wait for the build out. They are in training and really don't need a desk as they are shadowing other employees, but it is a bit irritating that the construction was delayed.

 

On top of this, my Operations manager, Shawna, was out Wednesday through Friday with her husband in the hospital. He woke up Wednesday with a blood spot in his right eye and his right leg swollen. They took him to the hospital and a cat scan showed a huge blood clot in his right thigh that was restricting the blood flow in his leg. He had three operations to clear out the clot and put a stint in and he left the hospital on Saturday. Shawna just texted me and said they were heading back to the ER, so I'm sure she'll be out again tomorrow. Shawna is the one that is supposed to be training the new guys, so it is a bit of a hassle having her out. I've had the guys finish all of the online tools that we have for new employees, they have learned how to do lapse letters and Friday they were shadowing two of my assistants. Shawna needs to get back to work and hire a nurse for her husband.

 

We are still working on our budgeting and Darla and I are meeting once a week to go over our new budget. We have determined so far that Darla is a Free Spirit when it comes to money and I'm a Nerd.  It has been fun so far and enlightening.

 

I had a lunch meeting in Sacramento on Tuesday and ended up hitting some debris in the middle lane of the freeway and it caused a leak in my tire. I didn't realize it and drove on it and completely tore up the inside of the radial. I took the car into Firestone and they told me I needed a new tire. They also told me it would be $300. I was shocked and had paid for road hazard protection for the tire. They told me that road hazard is for the repair of the tire. I asked about the warranty and that does not cover road hazards. I then asked them in a loud voice about the Les Schwab commercial that shows coverage for the tire when you drive over nails or glass. The manager came over and gave me a warranty adjustment and the cost was $44 out the door. I think my next set of tires may come from Les Schwab. I paid $1300 for these in 2012.

 

Well, that's it for this week. I hope you are all well. Have a great week. Ciao

 

Back to Work and Life

 

A few leftover pictures from our trip to the Bay Area for the wedding, Mystery Spot and San Francisco. A nice shot of David giving his speech/toast at the wedding and one of David and Daniel with one of their cousins and also Daniel's groomsman. Also one of Daniel in his new car which is a two year old Honda Insight as they leave the reception. Daniel realized that he could trade in the Explorer we gave him and actually pay for his car payment with the money he saves on gas. He is in commute traffic about 3 hours a day. Also a picture of the brothers in San Francisco.

 

Randy has invited me out to Dallas or Graford or whatever his town is named. I was ready to buy tickets, but Darla and I are taking a class at church called Financial Peace University and I'm working on getting my financial house in order. Randy, I think I'll take a rain check on your offer until the Spring. Darla and I will plan a long weekend with you in April or May.

 

I'm enjoying the class so far. It is based on the ministry of Dave Ramsay, who is a man that was very successful early in life (He had a $4,000,000 real estate portfolio by the time he was 26). He lost it all and realized that his entire life was based on the use of credit and he spent the next 10 years studying the Biblical approach to money. He believes that credit is the single worst thing that has happened to Americans in the last 100 years. Believe it or not, people used to wait and save up to buy things like furniture and cars and even homes. A high percentage of Americans still spend more money annually than they make. Darla and I are working on putting together a 3-6 month Emergency Fund and then we will begin working on paying off our debt. The idea is to have money in the bank to pay for unexpected emergencies like car repairs, appliance repairs, health issues, etc. I expect to retire in 8 years and my goal is to be debt free by the time I do retire. I will pay off my rental in two years and really start doubling up on payments for this house. I need to pay off some credit cards and I'm working on getting our finances in good shape.

 

I just got our financials for August at work and we had another month with over $100,000 in profits. We are just shy of $1,000,000 profit for 8 months, which is outstanding. My biggest issue is space in the office. My real estate department is in a dispute with our landlord on the terms of our lease addendum. The specifics are that we were given $85,000 credit for the build out. It was bid by the contractor for $71,000 but they missed our spec sheet which lists all of our finishes and requirements that are standard in all of our offices and contained in our current office. We balked on the contract, asked for changes to the bid specs which came out to $14,000. (Do the math). We agreed on everything, they started the construction and then sent us a bill for $14,000 for the "changes". We balked, they stopped construction and we are in a heated dispute now. The landlord said that we agreed to the original bid specs which include finishes different  from those that we have in the office now. The last  I heard, our attorneys were sending them a letter demanding that they honor the $85,000 credit and start construction immediately. If not, we will litigate. It's all noise to me. I have two new employees starting on Monday (we were supposed to move into the expansion space last Friday). They will be in training and will work from my conference room.

 

One of the Real Estate people asked me WHY I hired someone when the space isn't completed. I calmly told her that it takes about two months to hire an employee with our company and about 6 weeks to do the build out. I started the hiring process about a week before the construction was supposed to commence and handled my part flawlessly. I told her that if there is any problem with my hiring, it was a lack of follow through by my Real Estate department. She had nothing to say to that. Hopefully, we get things going soon. In the meantime, I'm getting some sideways glances from our lessors.

 

I got out to play golf on Saturday. I tried to get some of the retired guys to join me. They are all annual pass holders and can't tee off for free until after noon on the weekends. I got crickets from most of the guys. Paul, who is still working, but has an annual pass, agreed to come out and play. I would have set up an earlier tee time, but it gave me a chance to sleep in. Paul and I teed off at noon and were done by 3:20PM. It was like a country club out there, there wasn't another group on the course until the seventh hole. I was a little rusty after taking last week off and shot 43+43=86. I did play on Thursday night and shot a 44.

 

Our twilight league finally ends on this coming Thursday night. Neil and I are in 6th place and will play for the fifth position. They pay the top 6 spots. We have $114 coming back to us based on sixth place and we have skins Thursday night with another $120 in the pot and we can make an extra $10 if we beat the 5th place team. We paid $120 to get in the league and we'd like to get over $120 back. It's been a good year, but a LONG year. We've been playing since May.

 

The Cowboys continue to self destruct and I can only hope that Jerry takes a hard look in the mirror and hires a General Manager. Bring in someone like Mike Holmgren and get out of the way. Jerry has already said that would never happen. They basically gave the game to the Niners. My takeaway from the game is how easy it would have been to beat SF. They scored on our turnovers, but had no sustained drives and did not score in the second half against arguably the worst defense in the league. Tony Romo had one of his worst games, yet still threw for 358 yards and DeMarco Murray rushed for 118 yards. If Niner fans are happy with this game, they were watching it through rose colored glasses.

 

Darla and I went to church today and it was the first day that our new senior pastor, Tommy Politz was giving the message. He called Rick up and they ceremonially passed the baton. Rick took our church from a card table in front of the Roseville Wal-Mart handing our pamphlets on "How to Drug Proof your Kids" to a huge church on the hill in Rocklin. He has been our pastor for 20 years. Tommy has hired Rick back on staff and he has also given him a one year paid sabbatical with a travel stipend. I was a little shocked, but look at everything that Rick has done for our church and he needs and deserves this time off. He will rest and come back refreshed and ready to serve the church.

 

Well, that it for this week. I hope you are all doing well. Thank you again to Darryl, Cheryl, Randy Cake, Samantha, McKenny and Jennifer for such a fun week last week. Ciao.

Daniel is all Married Up!

 

 

A GREAT time with friends and, especially, family on our trip. Most of my family were there, so for most of my readers, this is all recap. You know what? Recapping a great weekend is what it's all about.

 

Darla and I left for Aptos on Wednesday morning. I had to clean the pool and mow the lawn, so we got on the road late morning. We got into Aptos about 3:00 after stopping for some food along the way. We found the condo and were pleasantly surprised at how big and clean it was and it had all sorts of toys, games and videos for Sam. We went into town and shopped at an overly expensive grocery store in town and paid 25 cents a bag for the ability to cart our purchases out of the store. We spent $140 for basically three days worth of food (3 meals a day for six of us). It did include a nice bottle of wine and some hard apple cider and plenty of snacks for the week.

 

David got in about 10 o'clock after getting slowed down by his Dad on his way out of Roseville. Jennifer didn't get on the road until about 5:30 and arrived about quarter to two. I stayed up and watched old Perry Mason and Bonanza re-runs until they got in. David and Darla headed to bed after midnight and I brought Sam up and put her in the other twin bed in the room with David. McKenny had a 6:00 AM meeting and had to be on the internet, so I hooked him up with the wireless key and went to bed myself.

 

Thursday was Jennifer's birthday and I slept in until almost 9:00 before heading down to help out with breakfast. We were on the beach by about 11:00 and the coast layer of fog had burned off. It was a little breezy, but we saw dolphins and sea otters and Sam got buried up to her neck in the sand. Jennifer is great with her and they played most of the afternoon with Jennifer pulling Sam on the boogie board. We brought lunch to the beach and enjoyed sandwiches and drinks on the sand. We headed back home mid afternoon. Sam and Jennifer walked because Sam was head-to-toe sand. It was even in her hair. We hosed her off in the back yard and walked over to the pool in the complex. We thought we got all of the sand, but the piles of it next to the steps in the pool said otherwise when we left. The weather was great, probably 82 degrees or so.

 

We had dinner and then headed to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. It was $12.99 Pepsi can night at the park and we had our five cans ready to go (David decided to stay back and firm up plans for the bachelor party.) The trouble was that we left the bag with the cans sitting on the counter. I had to stop at a market close to the park and buy a $4.99 six pack of Pepsi that went to the Pepsi counter at the park. It was $32.99 for wristbands without the cans, so it was a no brainer. We had a blast, Darla and I taking Sam on some of the kiddie rides while Jennifer and McKenny rode the adult rides. We had a ball. The kids took Sam and insisted that we ride the Big Dipper, an old style wooden roller coaster. I rode it once and got jostled all over the place. Darla was giggling and laughing and was ready to go again. I was done after one run and we hooked up with Jennifer and McKenny and Darla went again with them, while Sam and I rode the tram cars over the top of the park. I took Sam over to the caricaturist and we had a gift picture made for her Mom's birthday. Jennifer came by while he was working on it and took a video of the process. She was thrilled.

 

Darla and I took Sam home and McKenny and Jennifer went out for a birthday drink. We got Sam home (after buying more breakfast meat) and to bed, although she was still awake when her Mom got home.

 

Friday we met Don and Alicia after lunch and drove over to the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz. It is one of the areas in the world where forces cause the land to have some interesting quirks. The land is all on a hill and the phenomenon is all smoke and mirrors, but still fascinating. You can put a level on a piece of wood and see that it is level, but the person that stands on one end of the board is always taller than the other. At one point they said they needed a "smart" person to verify the results of the board test. Sam raised her hand and the guide said to say "Ghost-Ghost-Ghost." Sam did and she said, "Quickly, what do you put in a toaster?' Sam looked at her and said, "bread." That's my girl.

 

We hit the beach in the afternoon and Sam had a bit of an attitude on our way out. She wanted to bring a couple of sand crabs home and we all said no. That didn't go over well for the overly tired girl. We had shish-ke-bobs for dinner and enjoyed a great meal. Sam was in bed at eight as we had a big day on Saturday.

 

Saturday, we were up early and cleaned up the condo and were on the road by 9:00 AM after a breakfast of cereal and toast. Jennifer, Darla and Sam had a 10:30 bridal shower at the Grand Hotel in Sunnyvale. I hung out with Earl and went back to his trailer at the Elks lodge while the girls ate and partied. Sam did a good job and was engaging with all of the girls.

 

We got checked into the hotel and ran into Randy and Cake as we were leaving to run to the store. They got checked in and went to the liquor store and ran into Darryl and Cheryl (they are their father's sons). I had everyone over to the room in the afternoon and we drank Randy's Maker's Mark. I was afraid that he wouldn't be able to get the bottle on the plane, so I was doing my best to help out. We went over to the rehearsal at the church while Darryl and them hung out at the pool. We all met up at the restaurant, a huge Mexican restaurant called Ming's in Palo Alto. The food was great and all served family style. Steve had done a nice job buying wine and beer and they had it all set up at a table with a nice table cloth on it. I split the cost of the liquor with him and we split the cost of the dinner for 80 people. It was a great time and we got to meet a lot of Becky's family and some of Steve's. They all made a fuss over Darla and she was a little embarrassed. I think they remember her and Steve hasn't had another significant other in his life in 22 years. If he was remarried or had a girlfriend, it would have been different. Daniel and Becky seemed to have a really good time a the dinner. Sam and Lucas enjoyed themselves as well.

 

Sunday we all met for breakfast at 9:00 and had eggs, sausage, cereal and toast. We ran into David and Steve and their family as well as Aunt Tracy and Uncle Stan, who sat with us for about 90 minutes after breakfast. Darryl was the first to break away and change into his swim suit. I soon joined him and Sam and Jennifer followed. We hung out at the pool most of the late morning and early afternoon, ordering pizza to go with some beer, margaritas and wine that we bought at the store. McKenny had one of his friends who is a single Dad bring his daughter over and Sam and Kiana played during the afternoon.

 

The wedding was that night and it was wonderful. Sam did a great job as the flower girl scattering flower petals, although she dusted Lucas who was supposed to walk with her, but he was busy hamming it up with people as he walked down the aisle. Sam high fived Daniel before finding her place next to her Mom in the front row. The ceremony was wonderful and the reception even better. The food was a little slow to arrive, but they hosted both appetizers that were served in a reception line and dinner. Our table was served. The lateness of the food sort of threw off the DJ and there was only about fifty minutes of dance music. Darla and Daniel had a very touching dance to the song "A Mother's Song' by T Carter. It was a great night with a nice speech/toast by David and a soft moment by Daniel when he thanked everyone for coming and surprised himself when he said, "on behalf of myself...and my wife." We sent them off with sparklers and silly string and the night was done.

 

We said our goodbyes after breakfast to Jennifer and Sam and McKenny as they had a long drive to Vegas. The brothers all packed up and went to San Francisco for the day. We met up with Cheryl's brother, Scott and his wife Cindy at Pier 39 and had lunch at the Fog Harbor Fish House. I wanted a chowder filled bread bowl and they are not hard to find in SF. Darla had a crab sandwich. We walked from there up to Ghiradelli Square and had ice cream sundaes after the walk. It was a great day. We left the city at 4 PM and were home by 6.

 

That was our week that was and I'm tired just writing it. I was tired at work today, but should be back to my self by tomorrow. Ciao.